The Modern Frankenstein
by Jess J
Summary: Jared wasn’t completely oblivious to what he was and what he was doing in the lab so often, surrounded by doctors and scientists.


Author's note: Another older ficlet, and the other young Jared ficlet my muse wrote during a brief phase where she wanted to write about Nomak during his early years. I hope you guys enjoy it, it was fun to write. Reviews make for a very happy writer, they do. Really. You'd be surprised, those of you who don't write, anyway. Those of you who do know reviews are good. So, please, review. Make me a happy writer.

Disclaimer: I do not own, okay? You know the drill.

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THE MODERN FRANKENSTEIN

Clear, blue eyes stared at the words on the fiftieth page of a thick, hardback book, intent and fascinated. Their almost icy quality was softened by the childlike wonder, and though he was nearing fifteen, Jared Nomak looked like a young boy reading his first adventure book. He was obviously caught up in what it was he was reading, which was a good thing.

Damaskinos had recently given Jared several books on mythology, mostly Greek, though there had been a few on Roman and Egyptian, and even one on Sumerian, which Jared's father had told Jared was the most important one and to be taken care of even more so than the others. He hadn't explained why, but Jared was hardly ever indulged in extra information like the whys.

Right now, Jared was reading about the Trojan War. He had already read both The Iliad and The Odyssey - in Greek, no less - , but now he was reading a book that dealt more with the historical aspects, the author trying to separate fact from fiction. It was hard to do, Jared assumed, seeing as much every account included the Ancient Greek deities, and some of the heroes themselves were not quite mortal.

He supposed human was a better term. Not all immortals were mere myths, he himself was proof of that.

It was a fascinating read though. Jared's mind had absorbed every word of every page he had read so far, soaking in the information. Mythology was rather intriguing to him, and he was even more interested in how it influenced the modern day religions and classic and modern literature.

One of the scientists that he was around the most - Dr. Gorog - had even given Jared the one book his father had always refused to give his son. The Modern Prometheus, more commonly known as Frankenstein. Jared hadn't understood why his father wouldn't allow him the book for a long time but he was grateful to Dr. Gorog for sneaking in the gift.

Jared had read the book five times, and he had learned everything he could about Prometheus. After a while, suspicions had snuck into his mind concerning his father's reasons for not giving Jared Frankenstein. He had a feeling he knew - Jared wasn't completely oblivious to what he was and what he was doing in the lab so often, surrounded by doctors and scientists.

At least he was allowed to read and learn, so that when his father's goal was reached, he wouldn't enter the world as a perfected vampire with a child's ignorance. He still kept the book hidden though. He read it before bed at least once a week.

Jared sometimes wondered if there had been a Prometheus, a Deucalion - Prometheus' son - or any of the other Titans or gods and goddesses. Had any of them existed, in some sense? Not the powerful deities the Greeks and later Romans worshipped them as, but perhaps vampires?

His teenage mind often took him down very whimsical roads. Especially when reading about the Ancient Greeks.

The young vampire pureblood stood from his bed and paced the room as he read. It was an old habit - it gave his body something to do while his mind was transfixed by the current book he was deeply involved in. He turned the latest page and started a new one, soaking up the new information, never quite getting enough.

His father had often stated that he never got enough because he had no trouble with remembering things. He always remembered, he never forgot. Jared suspected his father wasn't happy about that, though. Why, Jared wasn't sure. But he didn't push the subject. He had gotten his father angry once, and had witnessed his father's wrath, and that wasn't something he wanted to witness again.

Jared suppressed a shudder and closed his eyes for a moment. His legs didn't stop his pacing, but his mind stopped absorbing the information for the moment so he could push away the memories. He had seen that day that while his father looked old and decrepit, he could still kill mortals with little effort.

Damaskinos had purposely killed the one closest to young Jared, and Jared knew it. He didn't want that to happen again.

Opening his eyes once more, Jared went back to reading. Right now he was on the chapter dealing with the eldest Trojan prince, Hector. He remembered Hector from the other books on the infamous war - married to Andromache, killed by Achilles, brother of Paris. He was supposedly the greatest warrior of the kingdom of Troy.

Still not great enough to defeat Achilles. If any of them had even existed.

Right now, Jared wanted to pretend they had existed. That all of it had existed and happened, even the gods and goddesses and the half gods, and the nymphs and demons and titans. All of it, because it was so much more appealing than the dull room he called his.

A familiar urge came to Jared then, and while he found his current reading material fascinating, new knowledge, his imagination was taking over, wanting to return to a familiar realm. The teenaged pureblood stopped his pacing and walked over to his bed. Grabbing his bookmark and putting it in place, he closed the book and retrieved another from its hiding place.

Jared quickly opened it up and starting reading Frankenstein anew. It was a dark book, really, warning men not to play God. It warned of the consequences of tampering with nature and the way of life. Perhaps his suspicions were true, and his father didn't want him reading it because he might rebel in fear that this book would become Jared's reality.

But did the same rules and laws apply to those far above the humans, the mortals? Were they subject to the wrath of the humans' God? If there was a God, and whichever one it was. The humans couldn't decide, and nature's laws were not the same to Jared and his kind. So surely he was safe from the Creature's fate, and his father was safe from Victor's fate.

Weren't they?

Prometheus was punished for his supposed crime though. Mankind suffered as well. Yet, Deucalion was a savior, a rebuild of the human race. And there was no Zeus for the vampires, was there? La Magra, but Jared knew little about La Magra - Damaskinos let his son learn all aspects of human mythology, but vampire lore was for when Jared was older. As far as Jared knew, there was no other. Only his father. Only Damaskinos.

Jared shifted uncomfortable as he read his favorite book. Prometheus and his father were not much alike, really. So maybe his father was Prometheus and Zeus in one. So his father was safe, but where did that leave Jared?

Shaking his head and shoving the mythological symbolism out of his mind, Jared went back to his book and let himself go back to that world, let his imagination run away with him. It did him no good to think about things like that, it only put him in a dark mood. Right now he didn't want to be in a dark mood. He just wanted to read his book and exist in that world.

Not his own.


End file.
